Packaging aid apparatus and method

ABSTRACT

MEANS FOR REMOVING EXCESS AIR FROM THE INTERIOR OF A PLASTIC BAG PACKAGE CONTAINING A PACKET OF SENSITIZED PAPER IS PROVIDED AND COMPRISES BENDING THE BAGGED PACKET OVER AN ARCUATE SURFACE TO ACHIEVE A DISPLACEMENT FROM THE NORMAL, SUBSTANTIALLY PLANAR ATTITUDE OF THE PACKAGE THROUGHAN ANGLE OF ABOUT 20* AND SEALING THE PLASTIC BAG PRIOR TO RELEASE OF THE PACKET FROM SUCH DISPLACED POSITION.

United States Patent [72] lnventors William G. Aylward Morristown; William W. DuPont, Mountain Lakes, NJ. [21] Appl. No. 747,531 [22] Filed July 25, 1968 [451 Patented June 28, 1971 [73] Assignee Keufl elfi Ess er Company. Hoboken. NJ.

[54] PACKAGING AID APPARATUS AND METHOD 2 Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

[52] 0.8. CI 53/39, 53/390 [51 Int. Cl 8651) 7/08 [50] Field of Search ..53/390, 124 (A), 124 (B), 38, 39; 211/49 (D), 51, 50; l93/(lnquired) [56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,627,153 2/1953 Stencil 3,411,263 1 H1968 Smolderen 53/124X 772,769 10/1904 Zitko 211/51 701,655 6/1902 Widenhofer 1 211/51 1,781,023 11/1930 Levy 211/51X 1,840,783 1/1932 McCarthy 211/51X Primary ExaminerTheron E. Condon Assistant Examiner-Horace M. Culver Attorneys-J. Russel Juten, Peter F. Willig, Lionel N. White and Milford A. Juten ABSTRACT: Means for removing excess air from the interior of a plastic bag package containing a packet of sensitized paper is provided and comprises bending the bagged packet over an arcuate surface to achieve a displacement from the normal, substantially planar attitude of the package through an angle of about 20 and sealing the plastic bagprior to release of the packet from such displaced position.

PATENTED JUN28 I971 FIG. 2

1 N VEN T 0R5 WILLIAM G AYLWARD WILLIAM W. DUPONT AT TORNE Y PACKAGING AID APPARATUS AND METHOD BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The protection of contents and economy afforded by flexible plastic film packaging materials in the form of bags and the like have made these materials highly desirable as packaging media for products which are susceptible to deterioration upon extended exposure to normal atmospheric conditions. Sensitized papers, for example, which would otherwise lose desirable qualities during storage have been afforded excellent protection from moisture, oxidation and other detrimental effects of aerial exposure. Light-sensitive papers, such as photographic and diazotype materials, have been afforded similar protection and have alternately through the use of opaque compositions of flexible film material, been afforded protection from light exposure.

Although plastic bag packaging materials provide adequate protection for the enclosed product with respect to exterior atmospheric conditions, such bags introduce an inherent problem not generally experienced with the more common wrap-around packaging materials and methods. Whereas the previous wrapping-type packaging operations progressively formed the wrapper about the product and thus served to effectively exclude air from the interior of the finished package, the preformed condition of plastic bags has resulted in the substantial entrapment of air within the bags during the packaging operation of semirigid paper packets and the like. Such air entrapment has been most prevalent where the bag dimensions vary sufficiently from the dimensions of the product to be packaged to enable ready insertion of the product within the bag. With the development of packaging aids such as described in copending .application Ser. No. 747,530 filed July 25, 1968, and now abandoned, bag dimensions may be more closely conformed to semirigid product dimensions; however, a substantial amount of air continues to be entrapped within the bag enclosure.

It has previously been a common practice to employ vacuum means in plastic bag packagingto remove excess entrapped air from the interior of packages. While such evacuating methods are wholly acceptable with soft or resilient products, paper packets and similar semirigid products are not practically adaptable to the application of vacuum. The problem with prior practices for the most part resides in the fact that close evacuation of bagged material of this type results in a hard and rigid package and exaggerates the sharpness of comers and edges of the package. The plastic film is thus in danger of being readily punctured or cut upon the least abrasion or handling of the final package.

The present invention provides apparatus and means for effectively evacuating plastic bag packages of paper packets and the like to achieve the removal of entrapped air which would otherwise tend to promote the deterioration of sensitized or coated papers. Although this method improves the storage life of sensitized paper products through the removal of air which is a potential source of deterioration, it provides sufficient' flexibility in the final package to vastly reduce the tendency of the package to puncture or rupture under the influence of otherwise normal handling which ordinarily includes sharp blows or abrasions at the corners or edges of the package.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Semirigid products such as packets or reams of photosensitive or diazotype paper may, through the use of newly developed packaging aids, be inserted into closely dimensioned plastic bags which after sealing by means of common heated jaw-type devices effectively achieve the exclusion of atmosphere and light from the package.

Although the paper packet is snugly contained within the plastic bag, there is a substantially greater amount of air also contained within the bag than is desirable, particularly when the packet paper is of a sensitized nature such as photographic paper or diazotype material. It is desirable, therefore, to

remove a greater portion of the air from within the bag package prior to final closure sealing. Removal of such air by vacuum evacuation has been found to be not wholly practical, since the package bag is thereby caused to be too closely conformed to the shape of the paper packet and renders the plastic film susceptible to punctures or tearing along the sharp edges and corners of the package.

According to the present invention, a device is provided which firmly engages and holds stationary the closed bottom end of a bagged package and includes an arcuate surface extending from a point of engagement with the lower portion of the package. With the open-bagged package engaged at its bottom, the bending of the entire package over the arcuate surface, such that the open top end of the paper packet is displaced from the vertical through an arc of about 20, results in the gradual and progressive expulsion of the greater portion of air entrained within the bag. Immediate heat sealing of the open end of thebag while the package is in such a bent condition prevents the return of air into the package upon release from the bent position. There results from this procedure a bagged paper. packet package having substantially little air contained therein, yet which retains a semirigid form having sufficient flexibility to absorb blows on handling to prevent rupture-inducing stresses on the plastic film material.

DRAWINGS FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of apparatus of the instant invention and shows the relative positions of the package prior to and during the evacuating procedure; and

FIG. 2 shows another embodiment of apparatus of the present invention.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A package-evacuating device according to the present invention is shown in FIG. 1 and comprises an inclined tray 16 rigidly secured in a base 21. The base includes a curved guide lip 23 which terminates at its lower end in a forward wall 24. Tray 16 is formed of a generally vertical arcuate wall 17 terminating within the base to form a rear wall 22 which defines with forward wall 24 a channel 18 in the base. Tray 16 is completed by sidewalls 19 extending forwardly from arcuate wall 17. The dimensions of channel 18 and the width of tray 16 determined by the space between walls 19 are selected to substantially conform to the thickness and width of paper packet package 27 upon which the evacuating operation is to be performed.

In the practice of the evacuating method of the instant invention, the operator inserts the closed bottom end of a bagged packet of paper into channel 18 of the abovedescribed device. Due to the integrity of the packet contributed by the plastic film bag wrapper the package will normally remain in an upright position as generally indicated by the dotted line package 27. Excess plastic film material at the mouth end of the bag forms a neck section 28.

While the lower closed end of the bagged paper packet is closely retained in channel 18 the operator, by hand or by suitable mechanical means, bends the package back over the arcuate wall 17 of tray 16 until the package conforms with the contour of tray 16. The evacuating operation is conveniently accomplished by grasping of the neck portion 28 of the plastic bag and bending the package over the arcuate surface to a position indicated at 25. As a result, substantially all of the entrapped air is forced progressively upwardly from the interior of the bag package and the plastic film material is simultaneously pulled snugly yet not tightly about the paper packet. A displacement of the package through about 20 from the vertical is normally sufficient to achieve an effective evacuation.

While the package is in position 25, a common heated-jaw sealing device (not shown) is employed to close the mouth of the package bag at a point 29. Release of the package from the attitude; however, atmosphere and moisture are prevented from returning to the interior of the package by the closure seal 29.

As noted above, the evacuation of the bagged package is readily accomplished to the extent that the greater portion of atmosphere is removed from the interior of the package, yet the plastic material is not so tightly drawn about the paper packet as to render corners and edges of the package bag vulnerable to rupture and tearing due to slight abrasions.

Another embodiment of the device of the instant invention is shown in FIG. 2 and, while operating generally in the manner above described, is more versatile in that there is provision for adjustment to accommodate various thicknesses of paper packets. The device of FIG. 2 comprises an arcuate tray 33 similar to that above-described pivotally associate through a bracket 34 and pivot pin 35 to upright support members 31.

Frame upright 31 is firmly affixed to a base 38 upon which is situated a slidable base element 37. Locking means, such as thumbscrew 39, is provided to retain base element 37 in a desired position and a predetermined distance from frame upright 31. To facilitate package loading of the device base element 37 includes a rolled guide lip 40 terminating at its lower end in a front wall 42. By the noted pivotal association with the frame upright 31, the arcuate tray 33 may be al ternately positioned between locations 32 and 36.

In operation of this embodiment of the present invention, adjustable base element 37 is fixed in such a position as to roughly accommodate a bagged packet (not shown) in the channel space between front wall 42 and the lower edge 44 of the arcuate wall of tray 33 when the tray is in the open position 36. Bending of the bagged packet, as above described, over the arcuate wall of tray 33 results in the movement of the upper end of the tray into position 32 and closes the channel at the lower end of the tray thereby firmly engaging the lower end of the package. The evacuating method is continued in the manner described above and upon sealing of the neck portion of the plastic bag, the completed package is released and readily removed as the tray 33 swings back to original position Although the package butt-retaining channel in the abovedescribed devices must be sufficiently close to the thickness of the package either by predetermined location of walls 22, 24 (FIG. 1) or by setting of the adjustable base element 37 (FIG. 2), the width of the arcuate tray, i.e. the distance between edge walls 19 (FIG. I) is not a limiting factor in determining the size of package width which may be accommodated. Such sidewalls 19 need only be employed as a convenient retaining means in generally locating the packaged packet within the evacuating device.

The above embodiments have been presented for the purpose of illustration and should not be taken to limit the scope of the present invention. It will be apparent that the described embodiments are capable of many variations and modifications which are likewise to be included within the scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.

We claim:

1. A method of forming a substantially air-free package of semirigid goods comprising:

a. inserting said goods in a flexible air-impervious bag closely conforming to the dimensions of said goods;

b. immobilizing the bagged goods at the edge farthest disposed from the open end of said bag;

c. positioning a convex arcuate surface in tangential contact with said bagged goods adjacent the immobilized edge thereof;

d. bending said bagged goods over said arcuate surface; and

e. close-sealing the open end of said bag while said bagged goods are in the bent attitude.

2. The method according to claim 1 wherein the bending of said bagged goods comprises:

a. clasping the bag material adjacent its open end; and

b. applying tension to said bag material in a direction substantially parallel to the normal of said arcuate surface at the point of tangential contact between said bagged goods and said arcuate surface. 

